Sudden Death

Leo Haggerty

09/08/2002

September 8 - Buccaneers lose heartbreaker in overtime to New Orleans on a special teams
mistake. Tampa Bay's offense and defense struggle in 26-20 defeat.

TAMPA - For almost 58 minutes the Tampa Bay offense was stumbling and
bumbling around Raymond James Stadium. In the last 2:41 of regulation, the
Bucs equaled their total scoring output to send the game into overtime with
a 40-yard field goal by kicker Martin Gramatica as time expired.

As suddenly as the Buccaneers tied the score was as suddenly as New Orleans won
with an interception by linebacker James Allen to send the Saints marching
home with a 26-20 overtime win.

Before Allen's heroics, the Bucs had two shots in overtime to get into
field goal range but came up short both times. After running back Aaron
Stecker returned the overtime kickoff to the Tampa Bay 42-yard line the
Pewter Pirates could only make one first down and were forced to punt at the
Saints' 39-yard line.

After holding the Saints to no yards after the punt, Tampa Bay again was
only able to get one first down and only advance to the Saints' 48-yard
line. That meant Gramatica would need to kick either a 56- or 65-yarder in
overtime into a pretty stiff cross wind and head coach Jon Gruden thought
better of that and punted on both occasions.

The kicking game, which plagued the Buccaneers throughout the course of
the contest with a missed field goal and a blocked one as well, let the Bucs
down in overtime. On fourth-and-9 from their own 7-yard line, Tampa Bay
punter Tom Tupa was forced to try and throw from his own end zone.

New Orleans running back Fred McAfee blew in off the Bucs' right side
untouched. This made Tupa stop his punting motion because McAfee was on top
of him before he could punt the football and it would have been surely
blocked.

Tupa tried to shovel the ball off the free safety John Howell, who was
the personal protector blocker, rather than get tackled for a safety, but
Allen stepped in front of the wounded duck at the goal line to give the
Saints a big NFC South division victory on opening day.

New Orleans took the opening kickoff and marched right down the field to
take the early advantage. The big play in the drive was a pass from
quarterback Aaron Brooks, who was under little pressure and took two big
hits from defensive Simeon Rice and defensive tackle Anthony McFarland as he
was releasing the ball in the first drive, to tight end David Sloan for 12
yards to the Tampa Bay 47-yard line. Sloan made the catch over defensive end
Greg Spires who had dropped back in coverage when the Buccaneers went with a
zone blitz on third-and-7.

When the Bucs defense finally stiffened at their own 10-yard line,
kicker John Carney split the uprights from 28 yards out to give the Saints a
3-0 lead at 8:13 of the first period.

On their next possession the Saints stretched their lead to 6-0. Carney
hit another field goal, but this one was more exciting. His 41-yarder
caromed off the left upright and dropped straight down just over the
crossbar to double the New Orleans lead with 24 seconds left in the opening
stanza.

The big factor in the first period was that New Orleans controlled the
ball and the clock with an extremely effective short passing game. The Bucs
stopped the running game cold allowing the Saints only 14 yards on seven
carries with running back Deuce McAllister getting 13 of those yards in six
attempts.

What Tampa Bay couldn't do was stop the short passing game as Brooks
finished the first quarter 10-of-15 for 86 yards. An even bigger problem was
the fact that the Saints' signal caller was only pressured when the Bucs
came with their blitz packages. The Buccaneers couldn't put any effective
pressure on Brooks with their front four when the Saints were throwing the
football.

It also didn't help the Pewter Pirates' cause when the offense ran only
seven plays compared to 22 for the Saints. Tampa Bay could only muster two
first downs and 24 yards of offense with the most telling statistic a big
goose egg under the completed pass column.

Quarterback Brad Johnson, who was hit or harassed on nearly every one of
his 52 pass attempts, was 0-for-2 and sacked once in the first 15 minutes of
play, but he felt the big problem was the lack of field time in the first
period.

"The Saints controlled the clock in the first quarter," Johnson said.
"We only had one possession and we couldn't find any rhythm in the passing
game or the running game."

The Buccaneers finally dented the scoreboard at 13:20 of the second
quarter. Gramatica scored the first points for the Bucs of the 2002 regular
season to cut the lead in half. The Bucs started the drive impressively with
a 21-yard jaunt by running back Michael Pittman. On the play, wide receiver
Keyshawn Johnson kicked out the corner and right guard Todd Washington
sealed a would-be tackler to allow Pittman to rumble 21 yards on a sweep to
the left.

Pittman finished off the run by running over free safety Jay Bellamy to
give a lifeless Tampa Bay offense some spark. The drive finally fizzled at
the Saints' 34-yard line and Gramatica just slid a 52-yarder with the wind
over the crossbar to make it 6-3.

After an exchange of punts, the Saints stretched their lead to 10
points. Brooks hooked up with tight end Boo Williams on a 32-yard skinny
post. Brooks again had all day to look over the field and find Williams
coming out of his break in front of the outstretch reach of strong safety
John Lynch. This put New Orleans up 13-3 with 4:17 left in the second
quarter.

The Bucs had one last chance to score before intermission. Defensive
back Corey Ivy threw Tupa's 47-yard punt out of the end zone to fellow
defensive back Dwight Smith, who downed it on the Saints' 2-yard line with
54 ticks left in the first half. After forcing the Saints into a
three-and-out, Tampa Bay had excellent field position after a 34-yard punt
by New Orleans was downed at their own 39-yard line with 25 seconds left in
the half.

After moving the ball to the 28-yard line Gramatica had a 47-yard field
goal blocked by Saints defensive end Darren Howard, which maintained the
Saints' 10 point lead.

Whatever speech Gruden used at halftime it immediately breathed life
into a listless Bucs offense. Tampa Bay took the kickoff and put their first
2002 touchdown on the board at 11:34 of the third period. Johnson found wide
receiver Keenan McCardell on a quick out just over the goal line on the
left. That cut the Saints' lead to 13-10 and it looked like momentum had
shifted back to the Buccaneers.

New Orleans crushed that momentum swing in just six plays to pad their
cushion back to 10 points. Brooks found rookie receiver Donte Stallworth for
a 41-yard touchdown reception. The first-round draft pick from the
University of Tennessee caught an out-and-up route between corner back Brian
Kelly and free safety Dexter Jackson and went into the end zone untouched to
up the Saints lead to 20-10.

The Bucs caused the only turnover of regulation and it occurred late in
the third quarter. Linebacker Al Singleton deflected a Brooks aerial into
the waiting arms of linebacker Derrick Brooks to stop a Saints drive at the
Tampa Bay 23-yard line. Brooks returned the pigskin to the Buccaneers'
46-yard line and it looked like the Pewter Pirates were going to climb back
into the contest.

After Johnson hit running back Mike Alstott on a 15-yard pass, the Bucs
couldn't sustain another first down. Gramatica was forced to try a 53-yarder
that had enough leg, but was wide left.

Tampa Bay finally got the offense on track and moved within a field goal
late in the fourth quarter. Reserve wide out Joe Jurevicius made a superb
juggling catch of a pass from Johnson that culminated a 12-play drive with
all but one pass plays. The 6-foot-5 wide receiver used his height to his
advantage to tip the ball to himself on the five yard line and went the rest
of the way to cut the deficit to 20-17.

The Bucs forced the Saints into a three-and-out but were forced to use
their final two time outs. Tampa Bay started their final drive in regulation
from their own 26-yard line and, after nine pass plays and a sack sprinkled
in, tied the score with a beat-the-clock field goal by Gramatica as time
expired to send the game into overtime only to have victory snatched from
their grasp in the extra period.

The Bucs lost their first home opener since losing a 17-10 decision to
the New York Giants in 1999, and the Gruden era in Tampa Bay was kicked off
with a heartbreaking loss in overtime.

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